Tau Stealth Troopers

Again I have to confess that I am not a Warhammer 40K player, I just like "some" of the 40K and I have built up a small force for RPG and generic Sci-Fi combat games. The Tau are a favourite, futuristic standard laser gun infantry, Giant Killer Robots and I even like the animal "Kroot" troops. I (so far) have stopped short of buying the silly big things (I did see a £45 impressive robot, but my money stayed firmly entrenched in the depths of my wallet). The pack of "three stealth troopers" are just within the borderline of acceptance [as a one off buy] retailing at £6 each (see below):

To my mind they look like heavy armour troopers so I think I will break with the GW army lists. Perhaps a heavy duty planetary "away team". I undercoated using Airfix Acrylic 34 and followed with a Vallejo Sepia Brown wash. I am now thinking of what basic colour scheme to use, "white" as the current flavour of Tau graphics in the GW shops and boxes seems clean and quick. Again I always get a sense of artistic relief I go a little Sci-Fi!

;)

PS: Last time I looked Black Powder, Hail Caeser and Pike and Shotte were still FREE at Warlord Games:
https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2018-05-31T07:00:00%2B01:00&max-results=7

Tau Kroots see the "Painting Tray"

My Martian Robots have been "put on pause" as another sparkly item in the corner of my toy box caught my eye instead. After a very long gestation period (approximately in Earth/Terra-time a decade [hangs head in shame]) my Tau Kroot troops finally made it to the "painting tray" stage (see below, a wave of orange monsters descends into range):

As chosen by my youngsters [I would have gone probably with a boring WWII US Marine "green" option], with a bold "blazing orange to bright yellow" skin palette, ah the audacity of youth (see below, the starting shade coat of Vallejo Blazing Orange):

• Used Arfix Acrylic (01) grey undercoat
• Washed with Vallejo "Sepia Wash" 
• Base coat Vallejo Blazing Orange 

Rather than posting a step by step painting description as I have done in previous posts, I took some time out of blogging and just enjoyed painting them (see below, I started adding "yellows"):

The photos may just show "glare" but the Kroots are getting progressively more "yellow". I like the look of the primitive Kroot with barbarous knives, teeth and claws plus "space musket". A one shot then charge in tactic akin to Highland Warriors (see below):

Again, final yellow highlights to the skin, a Vallejo "bright yellow" of sorts (see below):

The result is a little less of the blog posting but a little bit more on the satisfaction, to paraphrase Elvis! PS: I hope some could see the irony of painting Kroots and using an old Tyranid Codex as a movement tray.

 ;)

Thoughts on Undercoating taking a Dip

When you have a magic bottle of "Dipping Formula Immersion" (Vallejo 73.300 Sepia Shade) what would be more sensible thing to do other than use it? As long as you don't get the dipping mixed up or out of sequence with the Doritos and the Carling Export (see below):

First up some old Games Workshop Empire Spearmen (Renaissance in my book) primed first with Airfix Grey Primer (Paint Tin #1). Then call on the "Sepia Shade" dip for some quite quick impressive results (see below)

Keeping with the Games Workshop theme but this time Science Fiction some Tau "Kroots" again get primed first in "Airfix fashion" (see below):

Then "dipped", which in my book is achead shoulder immersion (approximately a third to quarter of the figure), then spread the wash evenly in uneven measure over the figure with the aid of some rough strokes of the brush (does that make sense?). The darker chap to the far left is a tradition undercoating scheme of Vallejo Game Colour "Charred Brown". I am thinking I may be able to save myself a little paint work in lightening up the "washed figures" by comparison to the dark brown undercoat (see below):

I don't mind the greenish brown ting as these critters ferret around being grubby (no such thing as uniform, more tribal furs) and the Landsknechts themselves are a dirty lot too, once they have been in the field for a few weeks campaigning.

The washed figures once dried do give good definition to detail and have good shadow shade, let's see what they look like when a coat of paint hits them en masse ;)

Tiny Little Tau (Gun Drones)

Tiny companions to the Tau leader's Crisis battle-suit (see below):

In the background some tactical reading, Mark Urban's "Tank War" following the Dirty/Filthy 5th RTR. Starts off "Phoney War" (France 1940) where the 5th could claim only "one enemy tank kill" versus score of lost cruisers to mechanical breakdown, really good for The Desert War (1941-43), a bit of Italy (1944) [reece in particular] and excellent for Normandy to Hamburg (1944-45). 

Got me thinking WWII again ;)

The way of the Tau (XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Commander

I have had this in my Sci-Fi collection since I think about 2006. It's time to be painted came while I was on holiday with the family (alongside Spiderman and Wonder Woman, see previous post). Although I have a packet of normal Tau (so technically I now qualify for the minimum force requirement for a Warhammer 40K Tau formation) it was purchased for its own aesthetic merits. In this was I shamelessly over equipped and "bombed up" the beast with five weapon and support systems instead of the prescribed three. I plan to use it in Space Crusade instead of a "high spec" Dreadnought (see below)

All-in-all I am quite pleased with the result, although my painting style would now be considered old-style traditional (three colour: shade, base, highlight) and heavy on the paint, as opposed to the more modern (base, wash, base, fine edge highlight) subtle mass painting techniques

Oh well, anything goes in my books .. ;)

Just Putting Pastic Things Together (GW 40K Tau Kroots) : Part VI

A bunch of carnivorous monsters under pseudo control of their Tau masters, though technically mercenaries. Bird-like in their representation and quite fun to put together (see below):   

I also like the antique looking weaponry they carry (see below):

With this latest acquisition of this pack I can bring the basic Tau army to a close and sit down to a winter of varied "painting" along with the hoard of recently assembled but not painted figures. If only I didn't get so easily distracted ;) 

Just Putting Plastic Things Together (GW 40K kit - TAU): Part I

Well fresh back from the 40K dice fest and I wandered casually over to my box of unmade Sci-Fi things to see what I could find of 'interest' (playing a game always has a certain stimulating effect ["like the smell of napalm in the morning"] of regenerating new interest in a previously dormant period/genre ... just to do a little bit of something). I am also in a 'take a break from painting mode', so the modelling knife and liquid plastic glue comes out looking for a relatively simple project. Target#1 is a Tau HQ Unit, hmm, a Crisis XV8 Battlesuit, or £15+ to GW for a robot looking thing to you and me (see below): 

It snips together quite nicely, but I decide to ignore the only mount three weapons of its "hard-points". It has 'five' sites so it gets five things attached (I am following on from the liberating viewpoint of my eldest but still pre-teen son - just make it look really good dad). After a short bit of mode-making frustration holding it together just long enough while the glue takes hold (Note: I just used normal Revell Liquid Poly in its construction) I finally set it down (see below):   

Not bad, but at that price 'one' of them will have to do for me. Also in the model pack was a couple of gun drones (see below, hunting a couple of ripper swarms) which is a nice add to my collection to make my "task force" up to group up to four.

Tau is nice kit, but hat next will attract my 'fiddling fingers' attention? I'll come back to paint it another day ;)

Tau Earth-Drop Status: "Kraken One in Position" Out

I opened another box to find, a battle ready unit of Tau FireWarriors. Looking for a posed photo-shoot opportunity:

Responding to a Space Marine distress signal on an uncharted planet (in a galaxy far, far away) near a dying sun (see previous post).

These boys (girls, or gender neutral beings) "rock and roll" when they land,  piling out in every direction, heavy laser rifles to the ready. Using an ultra sophisticated sensor (looks like a metal dowsing rod to me?) Mr White Hat detects movement, possibly an intelligent alien life-form. After consulting his AI tactical manual on how to greet unidentified sentient alien life-forms, he prepares to throw a grenade.

Blue Face readily agrees, asking questions is always more successful after a massive pre-emptive suppressive fire barrage and the recommended Tau way of opening negotiations.

I like the way this unit turned out painting-wise. If memory serves me correct from the GW box art, the Tau had distinct white strip tactical markings to add (for some future rainy winter's night, methinks).